Skill Standards Report

Shoreline Community College has published a report of a 2007 project to update the
Biotechnology/Biomedical Skill standards. The original skill standards project, completed
in 2000, was extremely useful in guiding the development of biotech programs and articulation
agreements in the northwest as well as other regions of the country.

For the 2007 report, Shoreline Community College worked with its Industry Advisory
Committee to assess the state of the industry in the region and to revise the cluster
structure (major work areas) of the 2000 skill standards. The new clusters are 1)
Research and Development, 2) Regulatory Affairs and 3) Manufacturing. A multi-employer
focus group consisting of front-line workers and leaders met to evaluate the relevance
of the 2000 skill standards and to remove outdated skills from the report. The second
goal of this focus group was identify changes that have taken place in the last 6
years that require the acquisition of new skills for biotech laboratory technicians
entering the workforce. Finally, the focus group was asked to predict future industry
trends. A separate series of interviews with industry leaders was conducted to address
this same issue. The 2007 report contains the detailed results from the focus group
and interviews as well as the updated outcomes. It was used to update the curriculum
of regional Biotech programs and articulation agreements.